Rotary shears for metal-cutting.



v PATENTED MAY 31, 1904- L. M. HAM.

ROTARY SHEARS FOR METAL CUTTING.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 1, 1902.

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Vl/[T/VES'SES No. 761,225. PATENTED MAY 31, 1904.

L. M. HAM.

ROTARY SHEARS FOR METAL CUTTING.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 1, 1902.

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I/V/TNESE'ES V //\/|/e-/\/7'0/1 UNITED STATES Iatented May 31, 1904.

LEMUEL M. HAM, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

ROTARY SHEARS FOR METAL-CUTTING- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 761,225, dated May 31, 1904. v I

i Application filed May 1, 1902. Serial No. 105,511. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEMUEL 'M. HAM, of

Boston, in the county of Sufiolk and State not hitherto possible of accomplishment by rotary cutters. I provide such machines with geared shafts carrying terminal cutters consisting of tempered-steel rings mounted on and bolted to flanged reinforcing-sleeves keyed onto such shafts. I adjust one cutter vertically with relation to the other by peculiarv wedges reversely actuated by a right and left hand screw beneath a beveled bearing-block and furnished with a positive guide. I provide between the arms of-the machine a movable gage and support for the inner edge of the material being acted on by the cutters and a locking device to secure it in place when adjusted. I locate in front of the upper cutter adjustable rollers, which hold down the front of the plate being cut, so that it shall not be tipped up by the cutting pressure. I furnish an axial stop at the front end of the lower cutter-shaft to prevent its longitudinal movem'ent and the consequent lateral separation of the overlapping faces of the cutters,jand I support said rollers and stop in brackets fixed firmly to the end of the respective arms of the machine. With my improved machine, which weighs several tons, I am able to sever centrally wrought-iron or steel plates ten feet wide and from one-tenth to one-half inch in thickness and thicker still with a larger-sized machine, and when supported and manipulated from the cutting end of the machine I can cut smaller pieces of such material on a curved line, if desired. Mechanical'traveling supports on the floor or suspended from above may be provided for presenting large and heavy plates for the action of the machine.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my machine, and Fig. 2 an end view wedges, and Fig. 4 a detail Vertical section through them and the adjacent parts in the plane of the ad justing-screw. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the gage-bracket, showing in elevation the gearing and actuating shaft. Fig- 6 is a detail vertical section through the cutters and connected parts, the shafts being in elevation.

The body of my machine is a heavy casting or forging comprising two integral arms 10 and 11, arranged one above the other, united at the enlarged rear end and tapering gradually both in height and thickness to the front I end, their inner faces diverging and the outer faces converging by preference. Said body is formed with or mounted on substantial foundations 12 to secure it firmly in position and is laterally ribbed or flanged to give especial strength and stiffness.

Two parallel cutter-shafts l3 and 14, coupled together at the rear by gear-wheels l5 and suitably driven, extend thence to the front end of the machine. applied by a worm-gear to the upper shaft, which carries a spirally-toothed wheel 16, engaging the spiral threads formed on a horizontal shaft immediately beneath it, and the gear-wheel 18 on said shaft meshes with a smaller one, 19, on shaft 20, to which power is applied by belt 21. This gives a slow movement. varied. An adjusting-screw 17, Figs. 1 and 2, holds an axial bearing at the end of the screwshaft to resist the end thrust incident to the engagement of said shaft with the wheel 16.

The rotary cutters 22 consist of heavy tempered-steel rings rectangular in cross-section, each fitting on the tubular portion and bolted to the radial portion of a flanged sleeve or casting 23, which is keyed to shaft 13 or 14:, as well as to the ring 22, for which it forms a seat. The parts are supported also on one or both shafts by a radial collar 24, integral with or fixed on the shaft to resist the thrust. The cutting-rings 22 have peripheral faces concentric with the shaft and vertical contactfaces overlapping somewhat and adjusted nicely to each other. They may be removed As shown i Power The arrangement may of course be and sharpened when required, and provision is I O0 made for any slight readjustment incident thereto. The extent to which the cutters separate or overlap varies with the thickness of the material operated on. The means I have devised for effecting the vertical adjustment of the lower cutter according to the thickness of plate to be cut are best shown in Figs. 2, 3,

The screw has no longitudinal movement, col-v lars formed on or fixed to its intermediate portion impinging on the arm 11. (See Fig. 4.) The wedges 26 and 27 are of peculiar construction, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. Their points or entering edges are alternately re- 1 cessed and reversely tapered, the flat-faced fingers projecting from one wedge entering corresponding inclined recesses in the other. Each wedge has a central longitudinal slot3O to receive a vertical stud 31, introduced througha perforation in the bearing and at tip screwed into the lower arm 11. Such slot and'pin and the interlocked formation of the wedge-tips constitute effective guidesfor the wedges in their movement. When the wedges are spread or separated, only their thinned tips are beneath the bearing-block 25, and the shaft 14, carrying the lower cutter, drops slightly, so as to leave a little space vertically between the two cutters, sufiicie-nt to admit the thickest plate which the machine will cut. The desired proximity of the cutters will be secured by ro-.

tation of the screw 28, the advancing wedges bearing on the beveled under surfaces of block 25 and extending more or less-beneath its mid- I dle portion, thus raising shaft 14 and causing the cutters to again approach and overlap.

. Between the shafts 13 and .14 I arrange a traveling gage for determining or regulating the width of a piece to becut by the machine. This device consists of a transverse bar 32, Figs. 1 and 2, supported at each end by a double arm 33, extending forward from a bracket 34, which is movablein grooved ways at each side of the lower arm 11. (See Fig. 5.) A transverse shaft 35, with crank 36, is journaled in the brackets and carries beveled gears, which actuate short vertical shafts,each having at foot a gear-wheel engaging the teeth of a long rack 37 at each .side of the machine.

Rotation of shaft will cause the gage to traverse the space between the arms 10 and 11 and adjust it to the desired position. A set-screw through the brackets beneath the rack with handle 38 secures the gage when adjusted. A rib on the bottom of each bracket traverses a longitudinal groove in the arm 11 to secure its proper position during movement.

At the front end of the machine I fix firmly to the endof the upper arm 10 a heavy bracket 39 to support adjustable antifrictionrollers 40, which bear against the upper surface of a plate being cut and resist its tendency to rise. These rollers turn freely on a short shaft, which has a grooved vertical stem in a perforation in the bracket. (Shown in dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2;) A vertical screw 41 engages and adjusts this stem, and a set-screw 42, entering its groove, fixes it in position and prevents its rotation. These adjustable rollers are a great assistance to the workmen, especially in operating on large and heavy plates.

In front of the lower arm 11 a heavy bracket 43, firmly bolted in place, supports a screwstud 44, which presses a bearing-plate 45 against the outer end of the lower shaft 14 or the flanged casting 23, forming a seat for the cutter on said shaft to resist the outward pressure or endwise thrust due to the strains of use.

The driving-belts run on suitable pulleys and are shifted as required in use by the shipping-levers 46, so that the cutters may rotatein either direction. 1

I claim as my invention- .1. In rotary shearsfor metal-cutting, the body having two integral, flanged, tapering arms in the same vertical plane, and two poweractuated shafts mounted in suitable bearings therein and provided with radial collars, in combination with tempered-steel annular cutters and with flanged seats removably secured on said shafts and each formed with a tubular portion fitting between the shaft and cutterring and a radial portion to which the cutterring is bolted, the tubular portion of such flanged seatsbeing keyed externally to the cutter-ring and internally to the shaft, adjacent to the supporting-collar, substantially as set forth.

2. In rotary shears for metal-cutting, the body formed with two tapering arms, poweractuated parallel shafts suitably mounted, and terminal rotary cutters removably secured on said shafts, in combination with bearings for said shafts adjacent to said cutters and with screw-actuated reversely-movable wedges for adjusting one of said bearings and cutters vertically with relation to the other, substantially as set forth.

3. In rotary shears for metal-cutting, the described means of. vertical adjustment of one cutter and its shaft with relation to the other, comprising the beveled bearingblock, the two wedges having interlocking and reverselytapered points or edges and offset, depending head portions recessed and screw-threaded, and the reversely-threaded screw adapted, by

rotation, to actuate said wedges and withdraw or insert them between said bearing and the body, substantially as set forth.

4. In rotary shears for metal-cutting, the body having integral tapering arms, longitudinal racks along the lower arm, geared shafts suitably mounted and terminal cutters, in combination with an adjustable gage extending transversely of and adapted to traverse the space between said shafts and comprising movable brackets, a transverse bar and shaft connecting them, and gearing on said brackets engaging with said racks and actuated by the crank on said shaft, substantially as set forth.

5. In rotary shears for metal-cutting, the

body formed with two integral arms having suitable bearings, rotatable shafts mounted therein, and'terminal circular cutters fixed on said shafts, in combination with a bracket fixed to the end of the upper arm and antifriction-rollers mounted in said bracket in front of the upper cutter and adapted to hold down the front portion of the plate being out without impeding its movement, substantially as set forth.

6. In rotary shears for metal-cutting, the body formed with two integral arms having suitable bearings, rotatable shafts mounted therein and terminal circular cutters fixed on said shafts, in combination with a bracket fixed to the end of the lower arm, a bearingplate applied to the cutter-seat 23 on the front end of the lower shaft, and a pressure-screw through said bracket and bearing against said plate to resist end thrust of the lower shaft, substantially as set forth. a

In testimony whereof I have affixed my si nature in presence of two witnesses.

LEMUEL M. HAM.

Witnesses:

A. H. SPENCER, JOHN WILSON. 

